Page 4 of Demonic Division (The Sundering Duet #1)
4
Cyprien
My palms slide over the little human’s chilled skin, panic squeezing my throat at the sight of her trembling lips, darkening to a blue-black hue as the blood leaves her face. That invisible cord tying us together is thrumming violently, raging against the walls of my chest and shooting bolts of pain throughout every inch of my body. I don’t know much about humans, but I know enough about this one to know this isn’t normal. She’s freezing to death.
Without another thought, I wave a hand in the air, heated magic pooling in the tips of my fingers as I conjure my coat from the shadows. The outline shifts and dances in the breeze, then all at once becomes solid, the weight of the thick furs palpable in my grip. As soon as it’s fully formed, I scoop the little human off the ice and wrap her up in the coat, pulling the edges tight so only her face, hands, and feet poke out. I lay her back down on the ground, rubbing my palms over the fabric as I send waves of heated energy past the furs and into her skin in an attempt to warm her. But no matter how much energy I expel, the human refuses to stir .
A desperate whine echoes in my throat as I scoop her back into my arms, numb to the icy wind and snow whipping against my face. My back muscles shudder as shadows collect behind my shoulders, swirling and snapping in the wind until two powerful yellow wings materialize. My vision flickers with darkness as I wrap my arms around the little human, careful not to shred the fabric with my elongating claws. My mind grows foggy with my desperation, but I still have enough sense to know if I don’t get her out of this wind and warmed up within the next few minutes, the blood will freeze in her veins, in her heart, and she’ll cease to be.
My eyes flit across the barren landscape, searching for a break in the ground. Just when I’m about to give up all hope, I see it. A dark spot stands out against the snow, about three hundred yards to my right—an opening to the ice tunnels.
The claws of my feet extend, carving deep grooves into the ice as I push off the ground and into the air. I shoot across the landscape like a rocket, diving headfirst toward that small opening in the ground, not even certain whether it’s really there or just a product of my demented imagination. I close my eyes as we near the ground, taking a breath deep enough to be my last, knowing if I hit the ice headfirst at this speed, it very well could be.
The next moment, my eyes snap open, and a manic laugh peels from my open mouth as a tunneling wind whips around my body, filling my head with an ear-piercing whine. I pull my wings in tight as I fall deeper and deeper into the hole, my chest brimming with joy at the sight of the glimmering blue ice encasing me on all sides. I’ve never been so happy to be in a wyrm tunnel.
The shaft widens as we near the base, allowing me to spread my wings and slow our descent as the tunnel curves and bottoms out. My feet land silently on the glittering ice, nothing but the scraping of claws and rhythmic beat of my wings to break the heavy blanket of quiet hovering in the space. The air down here is thicker—warmer—and more importantly, absent of the biting wind we experienced above ground.
I gaze down at the little human in my arms, carefully peeling away the thick fur around her head to get a better look at her face. Already, some life has returned. Her lips, which were once so horrifyingly pale are now blushing a warm pink hue, the same one coloring the apples of her cheeks and the tip of her nose. Her eyelids—once crusted together by the ice and snow—now twitch gently, causing her dark lashes to brush over her cheekbones.
“What a strange little creature,” I murmur, running a clawed finger down the slope of her nose, down her chapped lips and chin. “So fragile, but so lovely…”
The longer I stare at her, the more the beast beneath my skin shudders, begging me to let it out. I don’t know what this feeling is—why it hurts as much as it heals or why it’s driving me out of my mind with the desire to hold her and heal her and destroy her all at once.
Not wanting to think about it anymore, I pull my gaze from the human and move out of the tunnel into the main chamber. While the space is much larger, the air is even warmer, filled with an eerie light that bounces off the glittering walls of the cavern and colors my skin blue. Dozens of shadowed passages line the walls in all directions, branching out to the deeper, more dangerous parts of the underground.
The back of my neck prickles as a far-off wail echoes through the labyrinth, vibrating the ground beneath my feet. I have to remind myself that the sounds are miles away—that the upper portions of the tunnels have been abandoned for years and that there’s no danger of running into an ice wyrm. Still, I can’t help but keep watch on those shadowed pits.
Shaking off my paranoia, I move to the center of the room where it’s warmest and take a seat, carefully adjusting my grip on the little human so as not to accidentally harm her. I’m still unsure of the durability of her bones.
I peel back the hood of the coat, wanting to examine her more. Only when I do, I’m shocked to find her eyes open, the silver ring circling her pupil pulsing to the rapid beat of her heart.
“Who are you?” she whispers, her hazy eyes searching my face, trying to remember.
My mouth tips upward at the look of innocent wonder shining in her big brown eyes. My hand moves on its own accord, reaching for her face and brushing back some of the raven hair spilling across her forehead. “My name is Cyprien, little human.”
“Who am I?”
A chuckle shakes my chest as I sift through her memories, needing to know it for myself. Dagny. Dagny Olavera. But that’s not the name I tell her.
“You’re mine. ”
She blinks, some of the haze in her vision clearing as her heart begins to race. “I… am?”
“Yes, little one,” I murmur, brushing my thumb over the pulse point on the side of her neck. “Since the first moment I laid eyes on those pretty brown eyes…”
A tinge of pink creeps across her cheeks as her eyes move from my face, taking in the strange glittering blue walls. “Where… where are we?” she asks, her voice an awe-filled whisper.
Just as she asks, another faraway screech rattles the ground, causing my spine to stiffen. “Nowhere good, I’m afraid.”
“Oh… how did I get h—” Dagny’s eyes go wide as her memories flood in violent succession, twisting her face with fear and causing her to pull away from me. “ You. You brought me here. You… you almost killed me!” Her mouth sets in a firm line as she wriggles against my hold, trying to get free. ”Let me go! Take me back right this minute!”
My smile dims, but I can’t seem to make it go away entirely. She’s just so damn cute, thinking I’d take her back. Not now. Not ever. Not now that she belongs to me.
I hold her in place while she continues struggling, running my thumb gently over that racing pulse point. “Relax, little one. I’m not going to harm you.”
“You already have! I was—I could have died! I was going to die if I didn’t… if…” Her voice fades away as she gazes at my surroundings once more, her brows pinching in confusion. “What is this place?” she asks, gazing in awe at the great curved walls of ice.
“An ice tunnel. Hundreds of feet below the ground.” I decide not to tell her about the massive ice wyrms that built them or how the ground is currently shaking with their calls hundreds of feet below us.
A shock of fear travels down the bond, and I can practically feel the panic squeezing Dagny’s throat as she gazes around the space, searching for thin fissures or cracks that could indicate a cave-in.
“There’s no need to worry about that,” I murmur, reading her thoughts. “I’ll keep you safe. ”
Dagny’s eyes widen as a wail sounds somewhere in the distance. “You still haven’t answered exactly where we are .”
“Like I said earlier, nowhere good. This is my home—The Far Place.”
As I say the name, a bolt of shock travels down the bond, and my eyes widen slightly as Dagny’s thoughts enter my mind, unfiltered and brimming with fear.
The Far Place. But those were just silly stories. Weren’t they?
“Come again?” Her voice comes out as a choked rasp, and a million possibilities swarm her head, too jumbled for me to make any sense of them.
“Have you heard of this place?” I ask, attempting to sift through her memories to find where and how. I come up empty.
Dagny’s eyes swing around the tunnels once more before settling on my face. She nods slowly, lost to some faraway memory I cannot access. It’s locked beneath too many layers—buried in the labyrinth of secrets Dagny hides from the light.
“I thought it would be… different.”
“Different how?”
She shakes her head, her eyes glazing over. “I’m not sure… it’s not clear exactly.” A crease forms between her brows, and she blinks away the fog before focusing on me. “What are we doing here, Cyprien? Why did you bring me here? And where are we going?”
My mouth tips into a smirk as I pull her to my chest and stand. “I think it’s better if I show you.”
“It might help if you close your eyes,” I murmur, clutching Dagny’s wrapped body tight against my chest. I stare at the opening of the tunnel, my claws lengthening, hooking inward and sharpening to deadly points as my wings materialize just over my shoulders. They beat the air once, twice, and I’m hovering above the ice, gliding straight toward the mouth of the tunnel.
Dagny lets out a little squeal as we shoot through the wyrm hole, my wings beating furiously in order to gain enough momentum. When the tips brush the walls, I snap them in tight, causing us to shoot to the top like a missile.
Blinding silver light shines onto my face as we breach the surface, and though it’s uncomfortable, it’s twice as beautiful, especially after being inside the ice tunnels. Dagny seems to share my sentiments—breathing a sigh of relief that shudders down the bond and has a purr vibrating at the base of my throat.
Now that she’s wrapped in my coat, Dagny’s human body can tolerate the temperature up here, which means she’s able to take in the frozen wasteland that makes up The Far Place. Her eyes scan the horizon as we fly across the land, her body shaking for a reason other than cold.
“Cyprien… where are we going?”
Instead of answering, I clutch her tighter against me, taking a deep breath of her scent as a pleasurable heat builds beneath my skin. “I like the sound of my name on your tongue.”
She shivers. “That’s… nice. But you never answered my question.”
I sigh, looking out over the barren landscape in the direction of a dark and imposing castle hidden in the distance. “I’m taking you home, little one. My home.”
She doesn’t respond, but another shock of fear travels down the bond, causing my skin to crawl.
I hope I’m doing the right thing.